Monday, August 13, 2007

Right-Wing Media

One of the great illusions on the right, the notion of the left-wing media bias. The martyr-complex, the decided underdog, trying to get the message out against a sea of prejudice, who's sole purpose is to keep conservatives at bay. The idea of bias comes up daily on right leaning blogs, even though the convenient crutch has no relationship to reality. In fact, it is those on the left that should be crying foul:

Sun Media has become Canada's largest newspaper publisher with the acquisition of the operations of Osprey Media, with readership of more than 6.4 million every week.

The readership data shows the combined reach of the Sun Media and Osprey dailies is more than 1.6 million readers ahead of the nearest competition, CanWest Media.

Since Osprey's operations are all in Ontario, the acquisition creates a media powerhouse in that important marketplace. In Ontario, the Quebecor network has 31 daily newspapers - Sun Media's five large, paid-circulation and free dailies in Toronto, Ottawa and London plus six smaller dailies and Osprey's 20 smaller dailies. The companies have 102 smaller community and speciality publications in Ontario - Sun Media's roster of 68 Ontario publications and Osprey's 34.

The Osprey daily newspapers include The Kingston Whig-Standard, Canada's oldest continuously published daily, and The Peterborough Examiner

Just the facts please. Sun Media is an embarrassing, highly biased, Conservative organ, while CanWest is unbashedly center-right. The fact that these two operations are now the top two media outlets represents a clear threat to the notion of journalistic objectivity. Conservatives are right on media bias, they just have the political compass wrong.

The Cons are blind. They not only say that the CBC is too socilal and they want Tom Long in there to fix it,.... because all the media is too liberal.. I would say our television stations are too Conservative., as it is.

Maybe not blind, but our native conservatives borrowed the "left wing media" meme from our southern cousins, despite the lack of any evidence. Trumpeting as true, it would seem they just import their rallying cries.

In the last election, that Liberal rag the Toronto Star, ran more positive stories about the Conservatives than the Liberals. That Liberal rag the Toronto Star also ran more negative stories about the Liberals than the Conservatives. Contrast that with the unrelenting, daily bashfest of the Liberals, with Sun Media and you see the difference between journalism and full frontal bias.

I would also challenge Conservatives to point to the last James Travers piece that has been positive about the Liberals, since they always cry about his "anti-Harper" columns. Then turn your gaze to Paul Jackson of Sun Media, where he types, while snuggled between Harper's thighs. Which outlet has the "agenda"?